Friday, March 19, 2010

Who Do YOU Think You Are?

I decided to watch this week's episode of Who Do You Think You Are--featuring the background of producer Lisa Kudrow (above)--because (1) Ancestry sent me a reminder notice and (2) I was flat-out curious. What genealogical secrets would be revealed? What researching tricks would be mentioned?

This week's show looked, to my eyes, like 30 minutes (tops) of content stretched to the usual 60 minute slot. At a crucial moment, Lisa uses Ancestry to look up the name of a long-lost relative, and presto! She finds out just enough to locate him in Poland and have a reunion (one that was actually touching, especially when Lisa's father ultimately has a long-distance conversation with this cousin).

Seriously, Ancestry is a great tool (happily, my library has a World subscription). And the NBC show is a wonderful intro to genealogy for those who have done little or no family research. If, like Roots in the 1970s, this prompts people to ask relatives about stories about their parents/grandparents and other ancestors, it will have done its job.

And the show did reinforce an important genealogy lesson: Do your homework so you can recognize ancestors' names in their native languages. If Lisa's researcher had not been able to recognize her great-grandmother's name, all tracing would have stopped.

My niece Katie has been kind enough to explain how the Russian alphabet works and show me a site with common Russian names in Cyrillic and English letters. Now when I search for my Schwartz relatives in old microfilmed records of Eastern Europe, I have some idea of what their names might look like.

Thanks very much for your comments. I've been trying to think what else could have been done to help Lisa find her relatives. I wondered whether Lisa's great-grandmother had siblings in other villages, for instance, who could have been traced. Who, exactly, were Yuri's parents and how were they related to Lisa's great-grandmother? That would have been helpful.

Anyway, an interesting episode. Glad I tuned in. And let's all keep sharing our family stories!

About Me

Who writes college-level marketing textbooks? Even in the digital age, somebody has to do it. Back in my corporate days, I was a bank marketing exec and retail manager. My new book about genealogy is: "Planning a Future for Your Family's Past."